Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi stressed on Monday that a telecom data mechanism approved by top officials over the weekend allows the security agencies to benefit from information that can help them in tracking crimes.

“The telecom data would remain controlled by the law and the judicial committee that is tasked to follow up this issue,” Qortbawi told As Safir newspaper.

The March 8 alliance is still exerting efforts to resolve the quarrel between the Free Patriotic Movement, AMAL and Hizbullah over the full-time employment of Electricite du Liban’s contract workers.

As Safir newspaper reported on Monday that Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, who is the son-in-law of FPM leader MP Michel Aoun, held a meeting with a prominent Hizbullah official to bridge the differences between the two parties.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is to head to Brussels on Monday to press his European Union counterparts to blacklist Hizbullah as a terror group after a deadly bombing in Bulgaria.

Israel blames the Lebanese group and its Iranian ally for the attack near the Black Sea resort of Burgas which killed five Israeli tourists and their Bulgarian driver on Wednesday.

A YouTube video uploaded on Sunday showed Hussam Hussam -- who has claimed to be a witness in the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri – in the custody of a group of Syrian rebels.

The group said it was part of the “brigades” that “stormed” the Syrian capital Damascus.

A Syrian rebel commander on Sunday said that 11 Lebanese pilgrims abducted in Syria on May 22 were in “good health” but stressed that they will only be released “after the ouster” of Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to media reports.

Al-Jazeera television aired Tuesday a video it said it received from the abductors of 11 pilgrims.

Israel will not tolerate the transfer of advanced weapons to Hizbullah, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Sunday, as fears grew about the future of Syria's suspected chemical arsenal.

"The State of Israel cannot accept the transfer of advanced weapons systems from Syria to Lebanon," he said in remarks relayed by his office.

A major blaze erupted Sunday on Damour’s outskirts and spread to Mishref and Kfar Matta, state-run National News Agency reported.

Civil Defense crews arrived immediately on the scene and embarked on combating the fire.

A Syrian force infiltrated on Sunday into Lebanon’s eastern border region of Masharii al-Qaa and opened sporadic fire among the residents of the area.

Security sources told MTV channel that the Syrian force is formed of 30 troops and infiltrated 500 meters into Lebanese territories.

Maronite Partiarch Beshara al-Rahi urged Christians on Sunday to play a positive role in resolving the crises in Lebanon on the levels of economy, politics and peace.

“The Lebanese need to be reassured and to get out from the worrisome state that they have reached,” al-Rahi said during Sunday mass at the patriarchal at his Diman summer residence.

Unknown assailants tossed at dawn Sunday a stun grenade at the protest site of Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir in the southern city of Sidon, the National News Agency reported.

According to the NNA, there were no casualties, and no damage was caused.